Posts by Vicki J Kondelik

Mistress of the Sun is a historical novel about Louise de la Vallière, the first mistress of Louis XIV. The daughter of an impoverished nobleman, Louise is an excellent horsewoman who, at the age of six, tames a wild stallion no one else has been able to tame. Later, she becomes lady-in-waiting to Louis XIV's sister-in-law, and finds herself drawn to the king, who shares her love of horses, and of reading. They keep their relationship a secret at first, then, when it comes out into the open, Louise becomes the object of intrigue at court. It is also during his relationship with Louise that Louis XIV transforms Versailles from a hunting lodge into a grand palace.

The Last Mona Lisa is a multi-layered thriller inspired by an actual event. In 1911, Vincent Peruggia, a former employee of the Louvre, stole the Mona Lisa and ransomed it to the Italian government. Ever since then, there have been rumors that the painting returned to the Louvre was a forgery. Santlofer invents a great-grandson of Peruggia, Luke Perrone, who finds his great-grandfather's diary and searches for the truth behind the theft. But danger awaits as a killer stalks him, and everyone who has touched the diary turns up dead. Will Luke discover the truth before he becomes the next victim?

In this mystery novel set in a seaside town in England, Harbinder Kaur, a gay Sikh police detective, investigates the murder of a ninety-year-old woman who had served as a "murder consultant" to mystery authors: helping them come up with ways to murder people. As Harbinder and three friends of the victim try to solve the crime, Harbinder discovers the victim may have been involved in espionage in Russia. Did someone take revenge? The plot takes many twists and turns. Griffiths also paints a vivid portrait of the world of crime fiction and the publishing industry. Harbinder is a strong character who faces prejudice in the police and elsewhere.

In Blood Sisters, historian Marilyn Yalom tells the story of the French Revolution through the perspective of women’s memoirs. She studied the memoirs of over eighty women, of various ages and social classes, who lived through the French Revolution. Many of them were aristocratic or upper-class women, because they were more likely to be literate, but she also writes about memoirs by poor or working-class women that were dictated to someone else. All of the memoirs make for compelling stories.

The Satapur Moonstone is a mystery featuring Perveen Mistry, a female lawyer in 1920s India. Perveen travels through the jungle to the princely state of Satapur to settle a dispute between the mother and grandmother of the ten-year-old maharaja over the boy's education. While there, she discovers a web of intrigue. The maharaja's mother thinks that someone is trying to poison her son, and that his older brother's death was no accident. Perveen confirms her suspicions, and realizes the boy is in danger. Will she be able to save him in time?

Murder in Old Bombay is the first in a new mystery series by Nev March, set in colonial India in 1892. The main character, Captain Jim Agnihotri, is a wounded Anglo-Indian army officer who learns about the murder of two women from a prominent family while he is recovering in the hospital and reading the newspapers. After leaving the hospital, Jim uses the techniques of his hero, Sherlock Holmes, to help the family find the murderer. Along the way, he falls in love with the daughter of the family, even though their marriage is forbidden because of their differences in race and caste. Jim's investigation takes him all over India, and you learn many details about life in India in the late 19th century.

One Fatal Flaw is a mystery/courtroom drama set in 1910 London, featuring young lawyer Daniel Pitt and his friend, forensic scientist Miriam fford Croft. Daniel defends a young man accused of arson and murder, and wins his case based on the expert testimony of Miriam's former teacher, Saltram. But when his client is murdered in the same way as the previous victim, Daniel realizes his expert witness was wrong, and this leads him to reopen the 20-year-old case that made Saltram's reputation. In doing so, he gains a powerful enemy.

This is the story of a family of glass-blowers, particularly five siblings, during the French Revolution, by Daphne Du Maurier, author of Rebecca. It is based on her own family. The novel focuses on family relationships, not major historical events, even though many of the events of the French Revolution are discussed as various members of the family learn about them. The five siblings are divided by political beliefs, as each responds to the revolution in different ways.

The Burning Chambers is an epic historical novel set in 16th century France during the wars between the Catholics and the Huguenots. The daughter of a Catholic bookseller falls in love with a Huguenot soldier who wants peace between the two sides. But too many people wish to continue the fighting, and the lives of the hero and heroine are endangered. There is also a mystery about the heroine's origins, and a murderous noblewoman wants to have her killed. Author Kate Mosse has a great love for the area of southern France where the novel takes place, and it shows through in her writing.

This young adult novel, set during a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793, seems especially timely today. Young Mattie Cook struggles to survive in the fever-stricken city after her mother gets sick. With the help of Eliza, a freed slave, Mattie learns to nurse the sick and help the children orphaned by the fever, and becomes a stronger person. The novel is filled with details of life during the epidemic, some of them quite similar to today's pandemic.